(Belluno 1809–1866 Lissa)
A View of the Hippodrome of Constantinople with the Blue Mosque and the Obelisk of Theodosius, signed, dated Caffi. 1853, oil on canvas, 33 x 50 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private Collection, Italy.

We are grateful to Annalisa Scarpa for kindly confirming the authenticity on the basis of the original.

The setting of the present lot is the Hippodrome of Constantinople. It was built by the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus, who conquered and rebuilt the city, at the turn of the third century A.D. He constructed the Hippodrome which was used for chariot races and other entertainment. It was then enlarged by Constantine in about 324 A.D. The Sultanahmet Camii, known as the Blue Mosque, with its distinctive six minarets, is on the left and the Egyptian Obelisk of Theodosius is in the centre of the composition. In Byzantine times, the Hippodrome was the heart of social life and it retained this function during the Ottoman period, when it was known as the “Horse Square”. In the foreground of the present lot, different groups of people are walking and talking while others are riding horses. Ippolito Caffi is considered to be one of the leading Italian Vedutisti of the first half of the nineteenth century. He studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice. He travelled extensively in Italy and beyond, visiting Syria, Egypt and Turkey in 1843-44, recording his experiences and observations in numerous sketches. He took great interest in capturing the effects of light and atmosphere, as demonstrated by the present work.